The reason President Biden was 14 rows back at the Queen’s funeral was because protocol required Commonwealth leaders and the royal family to occupy the closest seats
Royal protocol meant that US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden sat 14 rows back at Westminster Abbey at the Queen’s funeral yesterday (Monday). Many eyebrows were raised when Biden and his wife were placed seven rows back at the funeral attended by some 2,000 world leaders. , royalty and foreign dignitaries.
After arriving at the funeral in his motorcade while other world leaders traveled by bus, the leader of the free world was placed behind Polish President Andrzej Duda. This step caused former US President Donald Trump to state that it was disrespectful to the American leader. However, it turns out that the president’s position in the audience was not a calculated political decision, but was decided according to royal protocol. This is reported by the ‘Daily Mail’.
Revealed: The reason President Biden was 14 rows back at the Queen’s funeral https://t.co/bJSXKUri3I
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) September 20, 2022
According to the report, at Her Majesty’s funeral, political leaders from the countries of the British Commonwealth take precedence over those from the rest of the world, even if they are from smaller or less influential countries. Protocol led to President Biden being seated seven rows behind Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He was also placed at the back of the Emperor and Empress of Japan who sat in the sixth row, behind the European royalty and the King of Jordan.
Lord Renwick, who served as Britain’s ambassador to the United States in the early 1990s, told The Times of London that he felt sorry for those responsible for Buckingham Palace protocol as they worked out the complicated seating chart.
“You can pretend it’s alphabetical but it’s not,” Renwick said. “Biden is not motivated by ego, French President Macron will be hysterical if he is not given a place of honor. German Chancellor Olaf Schulz will not care. You have to say to yourself: ‘Who will have a fit of sanity?’ and act on it.”